This study is the result of a four-year project led by a team at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. It looks at why and how communist states reform their foreign policy as they open to the outside world. It also aims to cast light on the broader question of the linkage between domestic and foreign policies and to examine ways in which states can cope with increased international interdependence. Openness and Foreign Policy Reform in Communist States looks in detail at the different kinds of reform implemented by European and Asian communists. It attempts to explain why some communist regimes collapsed and why, since the European revolutions of 1989-91, communist parties now rule virtually only in Asia. The analysis is based on contributions from international experts and focuses on six countries: the Soviet Union, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, China, Vietnam and the People's Democratic Republic of Korea. It covers reforms of economic and defence policy as well as ideology and the pattern of cultural and communications policy.